Robotanists: BeatCrave Fav of the Month

April is but a distant memory; your pick of the month, however is not. It’s time to pat yourself on the back for the most efficient use of your right-click finger- your BeatCrave Fav of the month is the Robotanists.

Los Angeles, circa 2003. A young married couple – Sarah Ellquist and Dan White – found themselves the musical contributors to the experimental effort, Loma Lynda. The name of the game was to combine film and corresponding live musical performances as a means of veering away from the familiar boundaries of rock music. Naturally, this fed into the collective’s primary aim to be “a rock band out to destroy rock music.” Essentially, the ultra-artistic hybrid worked to revive a style of performance which are not regularly utilized in the present day, and this approach provided a foundation for what would eventually set apart what was to become the Robotanists from the average indie rock band.

Soon after gaining acclaim for the psychological thriller “LOMA LYNDA: Episode II” at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Loma Lynda was featured at at both the CMJ Music Marathon’s Film Festival and Coachella Music and Arts Festival – and it was from this not-so-humble beginning that the Robotanists were born.

Well, not exactly. There is usually a significant if not predictable speed bump on the road to hopefully becoming a finished product; for Ellquist and White (and for most bands), that speed bump was finding the right name in which to call themselves. They began their quest for the perfect name in late 2006, debuting as Philistine! The only difference between the band that became the Robotanists and the band then known as Philistine! is that their fan base was built on word of mouth and live performances.

The idea behind the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is completely understood, but let it be reasoned that it bodes well for the ego – if not great for audience-goers – to behold a copy of some brilliant frozen-in-time compositions. It was then that the band soon became known as the Robotanists, and in early 2007 an endearingly-termed “official bootleg” of one of their shows – titled Line Check Please…. – was released.

Their debut EP, “Close Down the Woods”, was released August 2008, with Ellquist on vocals and White on lead guitar (both of them also as keyboardists), Keith Boyarsky on bass, and Preston Scott Phillips on drums and percussion. Outside of their own works, the Robotanists have also found a niche outside in the form of covers. Their soon-to-be-released digital album entitled “Shapes and Variations” takes on INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart”, and manages to produce a rendition of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” that is arguably more sumptuous than the original.

The band at present have toured well beyond the tried and true Los Angeles scene, but they have not left behind what has worked in the past – playing shows upon shows at local venues, from the Viper Room in West Hollywood to Spaceland in Silverlake. Their accessible quality pays much respect to their audience and the influential quality of the live performance.

The Robotanists have managed to fuse an unconventional beginning with a standard present formation, audibly producing anything but standard since their start. Their ambient and layered style has been admirably consistent, whether live or in studio, whether Loma Lynda, Philistine!, or the band they are today. As a result – intentionally or otherwise – they have carefully dispersed their tracks to be discovered by anyone desiring a sound ideally scrawled violently outside the lines.

Photography courtesy of Robotanists